Archived: BPAS - Newcastle

Updated 10 February 2016

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service was established as a registered charity in 1968 to provide a safe, legal abortion service following the 1967 Abortion Act. BPAS Newcastle upon Tyne was registered with CQC in July 2011. The service was located in the city centre, Newcastle upon Tyne. It was registered as a single specialty service for termination of pregnancy services to NHS and self-funded clients predominantly from the Newcastle, Durham, and Gateshead areas but from all over the North East and North West of England and Scotland. Some clients from Ireland accessed the service independently. The service is registered as a single specialty termination of pregnancies service and provides medical terminations for women with a pregnancy of 6 to 10 weeks’ gestation.

The Service’s Senior Management Team comprised of the treatment unit manager and Director of Operations.. The service had not taken part in any special reviews or investigations by the CQC during 2014/15. The last inspection carried out in May 2012 showed the service was meeting all standards of quality and safety.

We inspected BPAS Newcastle upon Tyne as part of our comprehensive inspections of independent services. The inspection team inspected the termination of pregnancy service.

Updated 10 February 2016

Termination of pregnancy services were safe, caring, effective, responsive and well led.

Staff followed best practice in cleanliness and infection control. Staff reported incidents and risks. The service had clear and effective systems for managing complaints and shared lessons learned throughout the service and the wider organisation. Managers made sure that they notified staff about lessons learned from incidents and complaints and any resulting actions. Staff knew about procedures to follow in the case of a major incident.

Nursing and medical staffing was sufficient and appropriate to meet the needs of clients in their care. Staff were trained and assessed as competent for general nursing practice. All nursing staff completed formal training and competency assessments.

Staff ensured medicines were stored and prescribed safely. Doctors prescribed pain relief.  Clients were provided with pain relief before treatment and advised about pain relief following abortion treatment. However, medical abortion records did not always show clearly why staff did not administer some prescribed medications.

Medical records were legible and assessments were completed consistently, with associated discharge plans and dates. Medical records were complete and staff obtained written consent from all clients.

The service had processes for implementing and monitoring the use of evidence-based guidelines and standards to meet clients’ care needs. Staff monitored clients at all stages of their treatment.

Staff told us how they involved and treated women with compassion, kindness, dignity, and respect. We observed interactions between clients and staff in the public areas of the service. The results of the BPAS Client Satisfaction reports showed that 98% of clients at BPAS Newcastle upon Tyne were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘likely’ to recommend the service to family and friends.

All clients had checks and tests before procedures. Waiting times for appointments were consistently within the guidelines set by the Department of Health, unless clients chose appointment times outside the recommended timescale. Information and advice were available from staff, leaflets and on-line to women at all stages of their care. There were appropriate processes in place should a woman wish the clinic to dispose of the pregnancy remains sensitively. Staff offered women testing for sexually transmitted infections before any treatment. The service could provide interpreting and counselling services to women if necessary. The service was accessible for clients with disabilities

Senior managers had a clear vision and strategy for this service. There was strong local leadership of the service with quality care and client experience seen as the responsibility of all staff.

Staff felt proud of the service they gave and felt that they met the requirements of Department of Health (DH) Required Standard Operating Procedures and Royal College of Gynaecologists Clinical Guidelines. They felt supported to carry out their roles and had confidence to raise concerns with managers.